Divergent Path
by fringeperson
Summary: Oneshot. Do Not Own. Naruto's first steps were up the wall and across the ceiling. Of course, the boy still wants to become the Hokage some day, but how would having that extra bit of control change things? Maybe...


When Naruto entered the Academy, he had little in the way of advantages. The AnBu who had watched him through his formative years had taught him to read so that he would be at the same level as the other children entering the Academy, but Naruto _was_ superior to his peers in a couple of ways – as evidenced by his baby pictures. These pictures had Naruto crawling up the wall beside scrolls and framed pictures, and walking on the ceiling near the light fittings, and sitting _on_ his bathwater rather than _in_ it when he didn't want to take a bath. Naruto had instinctively perfect chakra control, as well as massive reserves.

As Naruto progressed through the Academy another latent skill set emerged – Naruto was excellent at evasion. When he pulled a prank – which happened once a month like clockwork – it became obvious who could and who could not catch the boy. The chunin could _not_ – with the exception of Naruto's favourite teacher, who the boy clearly _let_ catch him. The jounin could _not_ – with the exception of Mighto Gai, who always helped Naruto with his taijutsu stances when Naruto (as with Iruka) _allowed_ the man to catch him. The AnBu rarely tried to catch the boy, since the Hokage rarely ordered them to. On the occasions that he _did_, he always sent Tiger, Wolf or Crow, as they had been his babysitters when he was little and he _would_ let them catch him. Eventually. Though sometimes it was more like _Naruto_ caught the _AnBu_, and certainly Naruto left plenty of chunin and jounin in traps that they needed help to get out of. Genin were _never_ asked to catch Naruto.

When Naruto was twelve he became a genin. He hadn't tried to pass earlier, though he could have. Certainly some of his classmates _had_ tried – and failed. Uchiha Sasuke had tried once before and not been permitted – having failed the psychological exam that was required for all under-aged applicants, but which was (for some reason) _not_ required if graduating at the already set age.

Naruto was put on a team with Haruno Sakura – who he felt little for either way – and Uchiha Sasuke – who he despised as an arrogant and angst-wallowing brat. Still, they were his team now and he would work with them as directed by his assigned jounin sensei. He was surprised by who it was.

"Eh?" he yelped when the silver-haired man arrived late to the classroom (Sakura screamed "you're late!" but was ignored). "What happened to your other uniform sensei?" Naruto asked, obliquely referring to the AnBu uniform he was used to associating with this particular chakra signature.

"It was getting a bit tired, so I decided it was time for a change," the jounin answered with a very slight smile under his cloth mask. "Alright you three, meet me on the roof in two minutes," he ordered, then disappeared from the room, leaving behind only a couple of leaves.

Naruto turned that over in his head as he climbed the stairs to the roof. Crow had disappeared a couple of years ago (details _not_ disclosed, AnBu was highly classified after all), and now it looked like Wolf had retired from the elite masked force. That just left Tiger among his friends in AnBu. Just as well for all involved that he'd already decided that there would be no prank-pulling after graduation.

"Alright, so introduce yourselves. A like, a dislike, hobbies and dreams. That sort of thing," the ex-Wolf said.

"Maybe you could go first to show us how it's done sensei?" Sakura asked nervously.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are not your concern. Hobbies... I have those. I refuse to tell you anything about my dreams."

"So we basically know nothing about him," Sakura grumbled.

"Your turn pinkie," Kakashi said, pinning her with his one visible eye.

"Haruno Sakura. I like..." Sakura glanced at Sasuke and giggled a little. "I don't like Naruto! My hobby is reading. My dreams..." Sakura trailed off again and looked adoringly at Sasuke again for a moment before squirming and giggling once more.

Kakashi sighed. "And next we have the broody one in blue," he said, moving on to the boy Saruka was mooning over.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like most things, the exception is training. I have no hobbies, as for my dream... I have a goal to defeat a certain man."

Kakashi and Naruto mentally face-palmed at the exact same moment. They would never know.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the blonde said, not letting his old babysitter, friend, and now sensei have to actually _call_ on him to introduce himself. "I like lots of things, but I dislike people who judge me before even trying to get to know me. My hobbies include running and experimenting with how things work. My dream is to become the Hokage," Naruto said, completely straight. No yelling or proclaiming or making a big fuss about it. He was one-hundred percent serious about his dream.

"You forgot 'pranking' among your hobbies," Kakashi observed.

Naruto waved it off. "Nah, I decided no more pranks after graduating. It's okay to do dumb kid stuff while I'm a kid, but as a shinobi I'm now an adult. No more pranking unless it will actually be useful on a mission," Naruto explained. He frowned then. "I explained that to you last week when you asked, Kakashi-sensei."

"Oh?" Kakashi feigned surprise and trying to remember. "So you did."

"Che," Sasuke snorted derisively. "When would a _prank_ be useful on a mission?"

"One word Uchiha: diversion," Naruto answered

"Naruto is correct, but right now that is beside the point. Tomorrow morning at seven we will meet at training ground eight, where you will have a survival test," Kakashi said.

"Survival test? But we already did that in the Academy," Sakura said, confused.

"Not that kind of survival test," Kakashi answered, the grin on his face hidden by his mask, but the genin could almost _hear_ it in his voice. "This is to prove if you've got what it takes to actually be genin. Only about a third of all genin who pass the Academy test actually make it _as_ genin. See you all tomorrow. Oh, and you probably shouldn't eat breakfast if you don't want to throw up," he said, then gave a wave and jumped off the roof onto the next building, then away.

"So few," Sakura whispered, stunned.

~oOo~

Sakura and Sasuke had just jumped into the trees, while Naruto himself strolled up to Kakashi calmly before sitting down with his back against the jounin's legs.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Kakashi asked, a chuckle in his tone.

"This test is about teamwork, isn't it?" Naruto said, and it wasn't a question, even though it was phrased that way. "I'll have you know that this team is set up to fail at that. Sasuke doesn't believe he needs help from anybody and that he, a genin, can take on a jounin all by himself because he's top of the class and an Uchiha. Sakura would _love_ to work with Sasuke, but for already mentioned reasons he will refuse to work with her. She will similarly refuse to work with _me_ because a) that would leave her precious crush _without_ a bell, and b) she doesn't like me for whatever twisted reasons of her own that, to my knowledge, have nothing to do with me at all. I may have experience in getting _away from_ jounin, and I may be able to pick a jounin's pocket if they're not expecting it, but you _are_, so that's bust."

Kakashi laughed and reached down to ruffle Naruto's hair. "Well done," he said. "And you said all of that quietly enough that the other two won't have heard you, so they still have to figure it out. I'm very pleased with you Naruto."

"Thank you sensei," Naruto answered with a grin. "So, what's my _real_ survival test?"

Kakashi chuckled. "How about for now you just spar with me, huh? That _might_ give your foolish team mates enough of an opening to try for a bell."

Naruto snorted, but stood. "You leave an opening? Only on purpose sensei. Rules?"

"Taijutsu only for now. I want to know where you're up to, since I know Gai has been busy with his own genin team lately and hasn't been able to help you out," Kakashi answered. "And no groin shots. I'm still undecided about wanting kids of my own, but I'd like to have the option," he added quickly.

Naruto nodded and took position.

"Come," Kakashi ordered.

Naruto attacked.

A few hours later, when the buzzer buzzed and Kakashi had provided an appropriate set up to _actually_ get Sasuke and Sakura to treat Naruto as a team mate rather than an annoyance – because he couldn't actually pass Naruto without passing the other two as well, and he wanted to teach his sensei's kid! – Team seven was official.

~oOo~

D-rank missions were dull. Sasuke hated them, and because Sasuke hated them Sakura hated them too. Naruto, on the other hand, was quite content to pull weeds, deliver goods from one part of the village to another, and pick up all the garbage lining the street, river or park. Of course, he usually performed the task set to him in a slightly unconventional way in order to make it more interesting and to train himself at the same time (Kakashi lamented that Naruto had spent slightly too much time around Gai). This served to frustrate his team mates even more.

And then there was Tora.

The cat indiscriminately hated. It hated Sasuke. It hated Sakura. It hated Naruto. It hated Kakashi. Kakashi at least had the excuse of being a dog-person with dog summons as a reason for the cat to be so belligerent towards him. Naruto had the excuse of the fox that was sealed within him – yes, he knew. He was a bright child after all and it wasn't exactly hard to figure out, particularly when the Hokage couldn't get away with lying to him when he'd asked a direct question. Which he had. Naruto had known the truth since his second year at the Academy. Of course, he was the _only_ person of his generation who did. He was the only person allowed to speak about it, and he knew that he was safer if he didn't. He told his team mates that he was also more fond of canines than felines.

Sasuke and Saruka however, could think of no reason at all for Tora to hate them so much. Apart from being responsible for bringing her back to her owner of course, but it shouldn't have known that the _first_ time they'd been assigned cat-catching duty!

Iruka was working the missions desk and trying to decide (musing out loud) if he should give team seven the task of cleaning up the park near the Academy for the third time... or have them catch Tora for the fifth time.

"We'll -" Kakashi began, only to be interrupted by Sakura.

"No!" she yelled, clearly unable to take it any more. "We're genin! We shouldn't be doing chores for people! And there is _no way_ I'm chasing that dumb cat again!" The pinkette had finally snapped.

"Don't you have something _better_ you could give us, Iruka-sensei?" Sasuke pitched in.

Naruto blinked in surprise. Sasuke had just _asked_ for something? Almost _nicely_? And _tactfully_? So that it didn't sound like the little Uchiha was giving someone not as good as him an order that he expected to be obeyed? Discretely, Naruto looked over to the window, making sure that the sky wasn't falling. Nope, still in place. Odd.

"What about you Naruto?" Iruka asked, aware that his favourite student hadn't said anything.

"Ah," Naruto said, smiling for his old teacher. "Tora really is kinda nasty Iruka-sensei," he allowed. "She seems to particularly hate dog-lovers like me and Kakashi-sensei. Not that she's all that much more fond of either of those two," he added, jerking his thumb at Sakura and Sasuke.

"Been bitten yet?" Iruka asked sympathetically. "She's handy with her claws, but it's the teeth you really have to worry about."

"Twice," Sasuke answered with a scowl.

"Me too," Sakura added grumpily.

"Always grab it by the scruff of the neck so that she can't," Naruto supplied. "I get clawed more though."

"So, picking up garbage in the park near the Academy it is!" Iruka chirped.

"No!" Sakura wailed. "Something _better_ Iruka-sensei! What about a C-rank? Haven't we been genin long enough to get a C-rank?"

A chuckle sounded from behind Iruka, stopping the chunin from answering. "You could be a ninja for as long as I have been, and Iruka would still rather keep you safe in the village doing D-rank missions because you were his cute little students," the Hokage said fondly.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi and Iruka greeted at the same time.

Team seven got their first C-rank mission that day: escorting an architect and engineer by the name of Tazuna back to Wave Country where he was building a bridge. The man was unfortunately also a drunk.

~oOo~

"Hey, who here has perfect aim?" Naruto asked, pulling a slightly large windmill shuriken from his pack. "Mine isn't quite, and I haven't exactly got a lot of these. Anyone want to try taking that guy's arm off? Kakashi-sensei would be free then."

Sasuke took the weapon and threw it at Zabuza's arm that was extended to keep Kakashi in a water prison. He didn't have to let go for long, just long enough. The few seconds were enough. Kakashi was free to fight again. Naruto pulled on a strand of ninja wire, bringing the weapon back to him – it passed rather close to Zabuza again too, which further helped Kakashi in winning the fight.

Or more correctly, helped Kakashi in distracting Zabuza from the hunter nin who proceeded to incapacitate the nuke nin before carrying him off, sword and all.

"Now _that_ is impressive," Naruto said softly, watching the slim, small hunter go, the very much larger nin a dead weight over his shoulder – as well as the massive sword.

Naruto was performing a similar duty shortly, as Kakashi finally fell to chakra exhaustion – except that Naruto only had to worry about carrying the dead weight of his sensei. Sasuke and Sakura picked up Naruto's pack and Kakashi's, so the blonde didn't have to carry the man's stuff as well.

When they got to Tazuna's house they had the joy of meeting Tsunami – and being offered beds and hot stew. Immediately Kakashi (still unconscious from chakra exhaustion) had been put to bed, and then the genin sat down to partake in the meagre but filling meal. While they were eating, they had the far more dubious pleasure of meeting Inari, Tsunami's son.

"You're all gonna die!" Inari yelled at them when he learned who they were and why they were there. "Anyone who resists Gato dies!"

Naruto sighed. "Who?" he asked Tazuna softly while Sakura argued with the kid about whether or not heroes really existed.

"Kaiza," the bridge builder answered, then sighed much more heavily. "He came here as a fisherman, he became a hero, and then Gato killed him for giving the people back their hope."

Inari yelled one last thing: "Anybody trying to be a hero just gets killed!" and then ran out of the house.

Naruto nodded and got up from the table. "I'll talk to him Tsunami-san, don't worry," he promised.

"Ah, thank you Uzumaki-san," Tsunami said, smiling gratefully as she held back tears. Kaiza's death hadn't been any easier on her, clearly.

Inari hadn't gone far.

"Hey," Naruto said, sitting down next to the boy on the porch of the house. "I'm sorry about my team mate," he offered. "She's just a crazy girl who doesn't understand that life isn't as good for everybody as she's had it."

"And what do _you_ know?" Inari asked petulantly.

"I never had a dad," Naruto said. "Not a mum either. I do have a hero though, but he's dead too."

"All heroes die," Inari grumbled, sniffling a little.

Naruto chuckled weakly. "Inari-kun, _everybody_ dies some day," Naruto pointed out gently. "The fish will die to feed us, the flower will die to feed the deer, and someday Gato will die too. Being a bastard doesn't make him immortal any more than being a hero automatically means you're going to die sooner."

Inari looked up at Naruto, eyes brimming with tears he was fighting against shedding. "How can you be so sure that Gato will die? He's got lots of thugs to fight for him too! Even if he _does_ die, someone else will do just like him!"

"He's got thugs, yes, but Kakashi-sensei fought with the guy who is probably Gato's toughest thug right now, and Kakashi-sensei was winning before the hunter nin came and took the thug away. And that was just Kakashi-sensei fighting on his own. Now, if I show you that I can do _one _impossible thing, will you believe that maybe I can do something else impossible?" Naruto suggested gently.

"Mou..." Inari said softly, then nodded slowly.

Naruto smiled, stood up, then walked up the side of the house. "How's that?"

Inari's eyes went wide, tears momentarily forgotten.

Naruto's smile grew to see the look of wonder on the kid's face. A quick jump, twist, and he landed on his feet beside Inari. "Convinced?" he asked.

Inari nodded just a tiny little bit, then blinked away the look of wonder and frowned. "But what good is being able to walk on walls against someone like Gato?"

Naruto chuckled. "Well, if I can find out where his house is, then I could get in easily and I could kill him, or I could steal the papers from his office so he won't have any control over Wave country except for his thugs, and then I could steal his money so that his thugs will get angry at him for not being able to pay them – and then they will kill him."

Inari blinked in wonder. "All that from just being able to walk on walls?" he asked.

Naruto chuckled. "Well, and a few other things," he allowed. "So, do you think you can stop crying about losing your dad now, and remember that your mum is still here and really loves you?"

Inari stiffened.

"I'm not saying to forget your dad," Naruto hastened to assure. "I'm just saying, you being down is getting your mum down too, and as much as you miss hugs from your dad, I think she might too – and you should never have to miss out on hugs when you've still got at least one person around to hug you, alright?"

Inari nodded and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Thank you, Naruto-san," he said, then gave Naruto a quick hug before running back inside.

Naruto followed more slowly. Tsunami looked up when he came back in, and mouthed 'thank you' silently to him over her son's head. Naruto smiled and gave a wave – the universal sign for 'no problem' – and went to find where Sasuke had put his pack. He was going to set up a few traps around the house before going to bed.

~oOo~

"Good morning old Wolf," Naruto greeted when he heard Kakashi's breathing change from those of someone sleeping to someone waking.

"Good morning young Pup," Kakashi answered in the familiar way he had every time he'd been on the shift from darkness to day with the boy.

"I've got your breakfast and something to drink," Naruto supplied, shifting the tray of food closer to his sensei. "The other two, and the family, are still sleeping. I set up some traps around the house before hitting the pillow myself, and none of them are sprung. I've also got the full briefing of what exactly is going on in this town."

"Give me the brief," Kakashi instructed as he pulled himself up in bed and then the tray across his lap to feed himself.

Naruto gave the run-down of what had happened the previous evening at dinner, and all that he had learned about Gato from the people in town between setting up his traps. Naruto also outlined his own recommended plan of action regarding the creep and the problems that were likely to arise – including the possibiliey of Zabuza not being dead – which Kakashi confirmed as likely.

"Good job Naruto," Kakashi praised. "It's a good plan."

"Except that Sasuke and Sakura won't follow it if they know it's mine," Naruto pointed out.

Kakashi chuckled. "That's why I'll be the one giving orders, not you. They'll just have to get used to you being brilliant slowly. When they're up, send them to talk to me, alright?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes sensei," he promised.

~oOo~

Sasuke was guarding Tazuna at the bridge and Sakura was guarding the house – she had a flair for traps that Kakashi was encouraging while he was forced to stay in place to supervise – while Naruto was on patrol around the larger area, looking for Gato's hidey-hole.

The search was going faster since Kakashi had assigned one of his ninken to help Naruto track it down – following the scent of Zabuza and the fake hunter nin from where they had fought against Kakashi was much easier with a real dog's nose leading the way.

"Ugly sort of place, isn't it?" Pakkun, the ninken that Kakashi had summoned, commented.

Naruto chuckled. "No arguments from me on that," he said. "Thanks a bunch Pakkun. You want to stick around and help me scope the place out, or will you report back to Kakashi-sensei now?"

"I'll report back when you're _out_ of there in one piece without being chased," the pug answered firmly.

Naruto smiled more softly and gratefully. "Thanks Pakkun. I'm going to try and find his office, but I'll be back in an hour tops, whether I find it or not."

The pug nodded his acceptance of this. It meant: if I'm not out by then, something has gone wrong and you need to tell Kakashi.

Naruto returned in exactly one hour, and he was grinning like a lunatic.

Pakkun didn't ask, but he _did _notice that Naruto's satchel was looking fatter than it had been when the boy went in, and it looked like it was full of papers. There was also a very cushioned, very muffled clinking sound – a sound like small weapons rather than coins. Gato wasn't the sort of man to have any currency around his person that was small enough to be counted in coin.

Naruto would drop the package off to Kakashi and then go train for a while – near a patch of medicinal herbs he'd found earlier in the day. The fake hunter nin may show up there to pick herbs for Zabuza.

"Eh Naruto!" Kakashi greeted. "Pakkun, how'd it go?"

"Found the place no problem," Pakkun answered. "Now, if you will excuse me, the wife and pups are waiting back home."

Kakashi nodded his dismissal, and once Pakkun had vanished, he turned to Naruto. "Well?" he asked, then frowned as he noticed something different about his student. "Where did you get those glasses?"

"They're Gato's," Naruto answered smugly. "Stole them right off his face and he didn't even notice. Neither did any of the _ten_ mercenaries he had in the room with him. Oh, and I brought you some reading material," Naruto continued, swinging the pack off his back and pulling out a few fat folders. "Some of it's kinda dry, but then there are _some_ bits that are _real_ juicy sensei."

"He's not going to miss these, is he? No trace?" Kakashi asked, even as he opened the first folder.

"Oh some of them he will," Naruto admitted. "The papers that say he owns things are the real ones, but I doubt he really checks that he's still got them on a daily basis. The stuff he _would_ look at regularly is just copied."

"And the hired help?" Kakashi asked.

"About a hundred thugs of varying talent, but only Momochi Zabuza and his assistant have ninja training. Two of them have some sword skills, but they've only got regular and slightly rusty katanas that they use by drawing fast and slashing immediately. Easy to beat."

"Easy to beat _if_ you know how," Kakashi countered firmly. "And your team mates do not," he reminded the blonde.

"What training will you give them while they're not on guard duty?" Naruto asked – he already knew what _he_ was working on after all.

"Tree climbing," Kakashi answered.

Naruto gaped. "But I was doing that when I was two!" he yelped. "How can they not know that by now?"

Kakashi chuckled. "You are a prodigy when it comes to chakra control," he told the boy. "Tree climbing isn't something taught in the Academy _not _because all the kids know it already, but because it's considered too advanced until they reach at least genin."

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'. Now go on, you have training," Kakashi ordered.

Naruto chuckled. "Should I do my Gai impression?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Gone," Naruto agreed, picking up his bag and dashing off again. He left the glasses behind though, with a note for Inari. The kid would be pleased to get some kind of delivery of Naruto's promise. Gato wasn't dead yet, but the glasses were proof that a ninja could do things normal people couldn't.

~oOo~

"By the way," Haku said as she stood up and got ready to leave. "I'm a boy."

"Not buying it," Naruto answered flatly.

"Eh?"

"If you _were _a boy, you'd have corrected me immediately," Naruto chirped, holding up a finger. "I mean, apart from the pink kimono, the carefully hidden bindings, and that you're wearing a choker to hide that you don't actually have one of these -" Naruto jerked his thumb at his own Adam's Apple. "No, definitely not a boy Haku-chan. A nice bluff though."

Haku pale cheeks gained a very slight tinge at having been found out. Hiding as a feminine boy had been her best protection for a long time.

"Of course, even if you _were_ a boy, I'd still think you were the prettiest person I'd ever met," Naruto offered with a softer smile. "Which is a big relief, because I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with me. Boys my age are supposed to start showing an interest in things like that, ya know?" The soft smile became slightly cheeky.

The light tinge became a full and blossoming blush on Haku's face.

"I- I have to go," Haku said, backing away quickly.

"Tell Zabuza that Gato will be dead by the end of the week no matter what," Naruto called after her. "But he doesn't have to be, and neither do you."

Haku froze for a moment, brown eyes wide and slightly fearful, before she turned and ran, disappearing quickly.

"Time to report to Kakashi-sensei," Naruto muttered to himself.

~oOo~

"You must go through rigorous training and put your life on the line," Kakashi said, finishing his explanation of why it was so important to increase their chakra control.

"How are we going to train Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked nervously.

"And why isn't the dobe here?" Sasuke put in.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's attitude. Naruto had not topped the class, alright, but he certainly hadn't been the dead last that Sasuke treated him as.

"Reporting in sensei!" Naruto announced, running up to where they were standing.

"Perfect timing," Kakashi congratulated the blonde. "I was just about to instruct your team mates in a chakra control exercise."

"Oh?" Naruto asked, grinning. "Which one?"

Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Sakura, leaning slightly on the crutches that he was using so that he could get around easier. Chakra exhaustion was nothing to just brush off after all.

"What are we going to do sensei?" Sakura asked again.

"Climb a tree," Kakashi answered, very seriously.

"Climb a tree?" Sakura and Sasuke exclaimed. Naruto would have been yelping with them, though for a completely different reason, if he hadn't talked to Kakashi earlier.

"That's right, but! Not ordinary tree climbing," Kakashi explained. "You're going to climb _without_ using your hands!"

"How do we do that?" Sakura asked, flat-faced and not impressed with this training.

"Watch," Kakashi instructed, then formed a seal with his hands before walking towards a tree and planting a foot on it.

"...vertically with just his legs..." Sakura stammered.

Naruto was more impressed at the way Kakashi had gathered his chakra at the bottoms of his crutches. After all, he had no way of making his chakra coils flowing through something that wasn't attached to him like that.

"This is how," Kakashi stated once he was upside-down on a branch. "Gather chakra at the bottom of your feet and make it stick you to the tree. This act is only possible if you use chakra."

"How will this make us stronger?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi had privately expected Sasuke to be the one demanding to know that, but then again, Sakura was the loud-mouth of the two, so perhaps it _was_ to be expected. A brief lecture later and he threw a kunai into the ground in front of Sakura and Sasuke and ordered them to start running up the trees.

"Why not Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, even as he picked up his kunai.

Naruto snorted and walked up to the nearest tree, then kept walking. He didn't even bother to make a seal to consciously gather his chakra. A little way up he turned around and started walking _backwards_ up the tree. "Because chakra control is the one thing I'm a prodigy in," Naruto explained. "You're better at taijutsu and know more ninjutsu, Sakura has book-smarts, but I've been doing _this_ since I could _crawl_."

Kakashi sighed. "You didn't need to brag Naruto," he said.

"I'm stating facts, not bragging. I wouldn't have said anything if Sasuke hadn't asked," Naruto answered, shrugging.

"Get a move on you two," Kakashi ordered.

Sakura and Sasuke grit their teeth and ran for a couple of trees. Sakura, it appeared, had pretty good chakra control – probably because she had the least amount of chakra of all of them.

"And don't you just watch them Naruto," Kakashi said. "You have a report to make to me and I bet you didn't finish your training before you came back."

"Which do you want first Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Finish your training, but on the side of the tree. Give your report when that's done."

Naruto nodded and walked out on the underside of the branch Kakashi was still hanging from, then put his hands behind his head and started doing crunches.

A week from the initial encounter with Zabuza, Gato was bankrupt and dead by the hands of his own thugs. They didn't like it when the customer couldn't pay – and even when they called him 'boss', he was really still just the customer.

Zabuza himself, along with Haku, had disappeared from the area. They were on the run from hunter nin after all. They couldn't just hang around, even if they'd wanted to.

~oOo~

More D-rank missions and lots of basic training. The former was driving Sasuke and Sakura even more insane than they had before the C-rank mission. The latter was also kind of irritating, since Sakura was really the only one who still needed such constant drilling of exclusively the basics. Of course, basics were basic for a reason and certainly helped the slightly more advanced boys as well.

When Kakashi handed them the forms for the chunin exam, all three of them were honestly surprised.

"You have the choice to participate or not," he told them. "The exam begins tomorrow at ten, the first phase will be held at the Academy in room three-oh-one." With that, he left.

"Cha! Advancing already! No more boring D-rank missions!" Sakura cheered, immediately going in search of a pen to fill in her form.

Sasuke smirked at the paper in his hand. Recognition, a chance to prove that he was getting stronger, opponents to test himself against, all in one tidy bundle. Perfect. He also left to find a pen.

Naruto, on the other hand, folded the paper and stuck it into his pocket. He had no intention of filling it out. He knew perfectly well that he wasn't at chunin level yet with anything – except for his chakra control, which exceeded chunin level. No, he had no intention of getting his butt whooped by people who were simply better than him. Even if the exam was taking place in the relative safety of Konoha this time. No. He'd _watch_ the exam, to get a feel of how things worked, but he wouldn't be participating this time around.

He took his dream to be Hokage some day very seriously, which meant that he took every level of advancement seriously as well. Until he was confident that he had all the skills and qualities of a chunin, he would _not _be trying for the position. Just like he hadn't tried to make genin earlier either.

~oOo~

While Sakura and Sasuke were being told that, actually, you need to be part of a team of three to get into the exams (and they were consequently getting steadily more furious with Naruto for not showing up, when they had previously both just been glad they wouldn't have to put up with him) Naruto himself was having a spar with Iruka – a spar in which he had asked Iruka to not hold back.

He knew that Iruka wasn't exactly a high-level chunin, but he trained every day with the other teachers of the Academy, so he was also more fit than a lot of people would have given a teacher credit for.

Of course, more than because Naruto didn't feel himself ready for the chunin exams, Naruto had decided against attending because he'd asked Iruka about them and learned that entrance required a full team – and even more than _he_ wasn't ready to be chunin, neither were the other two. Of course, they wouldn't thank him, but he was beyond used to that by now.

Still, this decision by Naruto to not attend the first available chunin exam would change the course of events in even greater ways than his instinctively perfect chakra control...

~The End~

Hate me now.


End file.
